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02 April 2013

A day in my life.

Today I'm giving you a peek into my world. 

I'm a homeschooling mom, small business owner, part time RN, blogger and hippie in progress.   My days are a little on the busy side, despite trying to keep things simple.
 
This is a little slice of my days:

5:30     Up and at 'em.  I make Ronnie's breakfast and pack his lunch.

5:45     Wake Ronnie, start the coffee pot and have breakfast with him.

6:00      Ronnie's out the door and I work on my Bible study (Beth Moore right now)

6:20ish  Done with Bible study, I grab a cup of coffee and log on.  I check Facebook,
              read some blogs, write a little, and check my email.  This is my time of the
              day before the chaos starts.

7ish       Around 7, the boys start coming downstairs.  They usually make themselves
             a glass of chocolate milk then just kind of lounge around while they wake up.
             I finish up whatever I'm doing online and start a load of laundry.  I also start
              thinking about dinner - if I need to throw it in the crock pot or thaw anything.

7:30      Close to 7:30, everyone is up and moving around.  I make breakfast (usually
              a rotation of eggs & toast, oatmeal or cocoa wheat). 

8:00      Just before 8, we eat breakfast.  While the boys are eating, I start our school
             day.  We're currently using Sonlight for school, which is really heavy on
             reading and read  alouds.  I've found that the best way to do this is to read to
             them while they're eating.  We start the day with Bible during breakfast. 

8:30      We start our chores.  John is in charge of feeding the chickens and chicks and
              putting our breakfast dishes in the sink.  Josh unloads the dishwasher and
             Josiah feeds the dog and gathers up any dirty clothes or dishes through out the
             house.  I switch over the laundry and start another load.  If it's warm, I head
             outside to hang it on the line - and the boys jump on the trampoline until I'm
             done.

9:00      School "officially" starts.  We work together on whatever is scheduled for the
             day that the whole group does.  Then we divide up.  I send Josh to the
             computer to do his math, while John and I work on Read, Write, Sing and
             Spell.  Josiah is preK, so he gets some kind of structured play - usually legos.
             John and I finish reading and math, then he and Josh switch.  John works on
             ABCmouse.com.  I also let Josiah on ABCmouse.com on the other laptop.
             He can also watch a Leapfrog video on Netflix at this time if he wants.
            Josh and I work on spelling, reading and review math - anything that needs
             one on one time. 

             When Josh and John are done with their individual learning, they can play -
             as long as it's not the Wii or Xbox.  The only exception to this is either their
             UFC trainer or Just Dance - sometimes I'll let them play that while I work
             with Josiah.  It keeps them moving.

             While the older two play, it's Josiah's turn for school.  I'm just using a PreK
              book I picked up from Sam's last August.  He's involved in everything the
              older two are doing as well and is like a little sponge. 

Noon:    By the time all this is done, it's time for lunch.  Lunch is usually leftovers or
              something quick like nuggets and fruit or PB&J and fruit.  While they're
              eating, I read aloud to them again for whatever needs finished up for the
              lesson plan today.

12:30     After lunch, I let the boys play while I work on my Motivated Mom's list.
              I also usually hop on the computer and do a quick check on Facebook,
              email and my blog. 

1pm       The boys and I take a time out to watch Tom and Jerry.  (We judge the
               successfulness of our school day by whether or not we finish in time to
               watch Tom and Jerry).   If school isn't done, we miss this and finish
              school.  I fold laundry during this time.

2pm       The boys and I do a quick run through our chores again - run the sweeper
               sweep the floor, wipe the table off and clear off our books. 

2:15     The boys can play and I work on things for our business - work on the books,
              file, pay bills, ect.  I also let them play video games now if they want to.
             I use this time to finish any projects that I'm working on.  Right now it
              usually means cleaning the chicks cage.  That thing is a disaster daily. 

4pm      Ronnie is home and we try to sit down and talk about out day before dinner.
              Sometimes it's a great talk.  Sometimes it's just "I survived.  How 'bout you?"
              Then I start dinner and he works on crowd control.

5pm      We eat dinner.  Not to sound like the Cleavers, but I usually have the boys tell
              what they did in school that day.  It helps fight off the bad attitudes during
              school time when they know they have to give an account to Dad at dinner.

5:30       Around this time we finish dinner and clear the dishes. 

From here, it depends on the day.  On Tuesday and Thursday's we head to MMA, Wednesday - it's church night.  Monday's and Friday's are my favorite because we try to not go anywhere.  We just hang out, then the boys have bath time starting at 7 and bed at 8.  If they go to bed without a fuss, they get a story before bed. 

Once they're in bed and after the trips downstairs for a drink (or bathroom, or another drink), it's usually about 9.  Ronnie and I snuggle on the couch and watch TV.  Sometimes I knit or work on my menu or check back online, but if we haven't had much alone time, I put everything else to the side and spend time with him.  Then it's finally time to shower and hit the hay.  I try to be in bed by 10pm, most nights it's a little closer to 11pm. 

That's a look at my day.  I kinda hate writing it down, because I don't want to discourage anyone.  We just have a busy life with work and the business.  And yes, there are days when I would just like to watch GMA and play Skylanders with the boys, but that's not what we do.  At this stage in our life,  I have to make a conscious effort to make family time a priority for all of us.  It's just the season we're in right now, and that's ok.

This is what works for our family and I can't imagine life any other way.

Don't forget to check out my fellow bloggers as they share with how their days go!

Clockwise, from top left:

 


6 comments:

Maria said...

I like how you judge your good days, by Tom and Jerry! That's great!!! :) And I think I'll adopt your idea of talking to Dad about school at dinner! :) Great idea!! :)

Rachel E. said...

You have a well structured day. It's good. It seems no matter how I try, I still can't get it to stick. I guess there is just too much chaos in my day. I do try to get school started by ten though. :)

Selena said...

I agree, it's a good idea to make the kids report to Dad at dinner.

I need to squeeze in some time to balance checkbook and pay bills. That is sporadic for me right now. We haven't missed anything, but sometimes I find myself balancing three months at one time. That is never fun.

Good post, Charli!

young wife&mom said...

you're a great Mom--great teacher and all around lovely lady. enjoyed peeking into your life!

swissarmymama said...

I love hearing how you manage all the stuff you're juggling! Thank you for sharing!

Barker said...

How do you get your husband out of the house in 15 minutes? I've been married for almost 23 years and I have never seen that. Our day has to switch around according to if Dad has something he want us to do in the morning. If not we have been trying to start in the morning. If Dad wants us to do something it's not till after 2:30 p.m. do we get started. We are often up until 1:00a.m. so we can see Dad. I'm going to start praying for a day job for him. It would be so nice if we could do some things with others, he would love to go to some mens' bible studies.